Beverage treated with nicotine

ABSTRACT

A beverage for suppressing the urge to smoke is made by heating a mixture of water and a substance containing nicotine. Thereafter the mixture is filtered to produce a beverage which has no discernible taste, smell or appearance of nicotine.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application is a National Phase Patent Application ofInternational Application No. PCT/US02/38655, filed on Dec. 4, 2002,which claims priority of Provisional U.S. patent application No.60/337,790, filed Dec. 10, 2001 and Provisional U.S. patent applicationNo. 60/372,385, filed Apr. 15, 2002.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] This invention relates to beverages for suppressing the desire toingest nicotine.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] With the wide understanding of the health hazards caused bycigarette smoking, many efforts have been made to produce safer productswhich eliminate or reduce the need to smoke. For example, U.S. Pat. No.3,901,248 to Lichtneckert, et al., discloses a chewable smokingsubstitute composition which includes nicotine adsorbed on a cationexchange resin, which is incorporated in a chewing gum base. Whenchewed, nicotine is released to diminish the urge to smoke.

[0004] More recently, U.S. Pat. No. 6,211,194 to Westman et al., andU.S. Pat. No. 6,268,386 to Thompson disclose beverages which havenicotine dissolved in them, and are intended to provide the consumerwith sufficient nicotine to suppress the urge to smoke.

[0005] The problem with the prior art products is that the dissolvednicotine imparts a harsh or unpleasant taste.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] This invention provides a beverage which has been treated withnicotine, but does not have any discernable nicotine taste or smell whenconsumed. In brief, the beverage is prepared by dissolving nicotine inwater, and thereafter filtering the mixture to remove the taste andsmell of nicotine from the water. In the preferred form, a nicotinecontaining substance is mixed with water, and the mixture is heated to atemperature above about 100□F, and preferably to the boiling point. Themixture is stirred while heating and preferably during boiling.Thereafter, the mixture is cooled, and filtered to eliminate the tasteand smell of nicotine from the water.

[0007] The nicotine containing substance is selected from a groupconsisting of tobacco alkaloids, which include nicotine andnicotine-like or related pharmacologically active compounds such asnor-nicotine, lobeline and the like, as well as the free-base substancenicotine and all pharmacologically acceptable salts of nicotine,including acid addition salts. Nicotine salts are useful and includenicotine hydrogen tartrate and nicotine bitartrate, as well as nicotinehydrochloride, nicotine dihydrochloride, nicotine sulfate, nicotinecitrate, nicotine zinc chloride monohydrate and nicotine salicylate,either alone or in combination. “Nicotine” is used herein to include allthe foregoing tobacco alkaloids and nicotine salts.

[0008] “Nicotine” also includes the solid complex of one or more tobaccoalkaloid compounds bound to an ion exchange resin, or other polymerrelease system, particularly a cation exchanger. Examples of nicotineion exchange resins are set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,248 toLichtneckert et al., referred to above. That patent is incorporatedherein in full. Nicotine polacrilex is especially preferred as a sourceof nicotine. Other sources include cured tobacco leaves and other plantswhich contains sufficient nicotine to be effective.

[0009] When nicotine polacrilex (a powder) is mixed with water, thematerial does not readily go into solution at room temperature, butinstead produces a slurry. Heating and stirring the slurry causes thenicotine polacrilex to go into solution or at least become thoroughlydispersed. When the solution is cooled, much of the ion exchange resinsolidifies and forms a precipitate which settles out of the mixture,which is preferably cooled to about room temperature, and thereafterfiltered through activated charcoal to remove so much of the nicotinethat it can no longer be detected by taste or smell. Preferably, thecooled solution is passed through a mechanical filter before passingthrough the charcoal filter. The processed water can also be filteredthrough an ionic filter, such as a semi-permeable membrane used inreverse osmosis processes.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] Nicotine in any suitable form, such as tobacco leaves, nicotinealkaloids, or the various other sources of nicotine mentioned above, ismixed with water, and heated, preferably to the boiling point, andstirred vigorously for about one to about thirty minutes. The mixture isallowed to cool, permitting any solids present to settle out. Thesupernatant liquid is then filtered to reduce the amount of nicotine inthe liquid to a level so low that it cannot be detected by taste, odor,or color.

[0011] In one presently preferred form of the invention, the nicotine isin the form of nicotine polacrilex in which nicotine is bound to anion-exchange resin, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,248 referred toabove. Nicotine polacrilex in powder form is commercially available fromSpectrum Chemical Mfg. Corp. in Gardena, Calif. 90248. Twenty-five gramsof nicotine polacrilex (15%, U.S.P.) was mixed in three gallons of waterto form a slurry, which was heated to the boiling point (about 210° F.)while stirring for five to ten minutes. The nicotine polacrilex powderappeared to dissolve, or at least liquefy, so that it was uniformlydispersed in the mixture. Thereafter, the mixture was allowed to standand cool to about room temperature. During the cooling process, aprecipitate formed and settled to the bottom of the mixture. Supernatantliquid, which had a brownish color was taken from the mixture and passedthrough a 0.2 μm polyethersulfone (PES) membrane filter, and thenthrough a medical grade granular activated carbon filter, producing awater-white filtrate, which was tasteless, odorless and colorless.Analysis of the filtrate for nicotine with high pressure liquidchromatography did not show any measurable amount of nicotine.

[0012] The PES membrane filter is available from PTI Advanced FiltrationInc. in Oxnard, Calif. 93030. The activated carbon filter is availablefrom ResinTech Inc., in Cherry Hill, N.J. 08034 1409.

[0013] The filtered product can be consumed as drinking water, and hasproved useful in suppressing the urge to smoke cigarettes. For example,many smokers have suppressed the urge to smoke by drinking about 500 mlof the treated water when experiencing the urge to smoke.

[0014] The product of this invention can also be mixed with vitamins,fruit flavoring, cola mix, and natural fruit juices to provide a varietyof beverages with the benefit described above.

[0015] The product of this invention may also be used in alleviating thesymptoms of attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), attentiondeficit disorder (ADD), Toureete's Syndrome, Schizophrenia, Parkinson'sDisease, Alzheimer's Disease, anxiety, and depression.

What is claimed is:
 1. A process for preparing a beverage treated withnicotine, the process including the steps of: a) mixing nicotine withwater; and b) filtering the mixture to remove the taste of nicotine fromthe water.
 2. A process for preparing a beverage treated with nicotine,the process including the steps of: a) mixing nicotine with water; b)heating the mixture of nicotine and water to a temperature above about100° F.; c) cooling the mixture; and d) filtering the mixture toeliminate the taste of nicotine from the water.
 3. A process accordingto claim 1 or 2 in which: a) the water and nicotine mixture is heatedabove about 150° F.; and b) cooled to about room temperature beforefiltering.
 4. A process according to claim 2 or 3 in which the mixtureis stirred during the heating step.
 5. A process according to claim 1 or2 in which the mixture is in the form of nicotine polacrilex.
 6. Aprocess according to claim 3 in which the nicotine is in the form ofnicotine polacrilex.
 7. A process according to claim 3 in which themixture is boiled at about 212° F. for at least about five minutesduring the heating step.
 8. A process according to claim 6 in which themixture is boiled for at least about five minutes during the heatingstep.
 9. A process according to claim 1 or 2 in which the filtering stepincludes filtering the mixture through activated carbon.
 10. A processaccording to claim 1 or 2 in which the filtering step includes filteringthe mixture through a permeable membrane, and through activated carbon.11. A process according to claim 1 or 2 in which the mixture is in theform of nicotine polacrilex.
 12. A process according to claim 3 in whichthe nicotine is in the form of nicotine polacrilex.